1. Field
The disclosure relates generally to data processing systems and, in particular, to managing access to personal data. Still more particularly, the present disclosure relates to a method, apparatus, and computer program for managing authorizations for accessing personal data of a user and for storing changes to the authorizations.
2. Description of the Related Art
Currently when web based applications access personal data of a user, the web based applications must first have an authorization from the user to access the personal data. Personal data of the user accessed by the web based applications can include anything from health records, to automotive repair data, to lists of friends on a social networking site.
Users wishing to grant authorization for access to personal data in a web based application typically do so by logging into the web based application and making a selection to grant the authorization for access to the personal data. Similarly, users wishing to revoke authorization for access to personal data in the web based applications do so by again logging into the web based application and making another selection to revoke the authorization for access to the personal data.
When a user wishes to see all of the authorizations currently granted and/or revoked in a plurality of web based applications the user must log into each of the plurality of web based applications to browse the current authorizations. The user may desire to change authorizations for access to particular portions of the personal data or for particular types of web based applications. However, the user may not know which of the plurality of web based applications have access to each particular portion of the personal data. Further, the user may not wish to spend the time to make the change in each of the plurality of web based applications. Still further, when making a particular change for a particular authorization in a plurality of web based applications, the possibility of error increases with the number of web based applications. For example, the user may make an incorrect selection when making the particular change. As another example, the user may forget to make the particular change to a corresponding authorization in one of the plurality of web based applications.
Therefore, it would be desirable to have a method, apparatus, and computer program product that takes into account at least some of the issues discussed above, as well as possibly other issues.